Team One Announces New CEO

Business Wire, Feb 21, 2008

Saatchi & Saatchi veteran Jack Mickle to transition into new CEO role; Brian Sheehan to pursue college teaching career

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Team One, a division of Saatchi & Saatchi, has announced that Jack Mickle has been named its new chief executive officer effective June 2008. Mickle will replace Brian Sheehan, who will be leaving to teach at Syracuse University and to obtain his doctorate.

Mickle, who currently serves as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Japan and as International Toyota Director, will begin transitioning into his new role at Team One beginning March 3.

"I am extremely pleased that my replacement is a person I have known and respected for years," said Team One CEO Brian Sheehan. "Jack is incredibly talented and I have the greatest confidence that he will take Team One to new heights."

Mickle began his career with Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles in 1989. After gaining extensive knowledge about the Toyota brand--from parts and service to performance cars--he moved to the Philippines in 1994 to work with Ace Saatchi & Saatchi. There, he spearheaded the campaign to garner the number one market position for Toyota Motor Philippines in 1995.

Subsequently, Mickle served in a number of management roles for the agency in Asia, including client service director in Thailand and head of the Taiwan office, where he led the marketing campaign to introduce Lexus in Taiwan. Today, Lexus is the number one luxury automotive brand in Taiwan.

In 2000, Mickle returned to the United States and worked with McKinney & Silver as a senior vice president. In 2002, he rejoined Saatchi & Saatchi as managing director of the agency's Japan operations. In this role, he led the international coordination of more than 30 Saatchi & Saatchi offices handling Toyota and Lexus business worldwide and directed Toyota's first-ever worldwide campaign for the Prius.

Mickle has also served as regional account director for the agency's Lexus business in China and as a member of Saatchi & Saatchi's board of directors in Korea. In his new position as CEO of Team One, he will report to Kurt Ritter, whose role as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi LA has been expanded to also include chairman of west coast operations.

After nearly nine years with Team One and 25 years with Saatchi & Saatchi, Sheehan will leave the agency in June to pursue his lifelong dream of teaching. He has accepted a position as a professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where he will teach graduate and undergraduate courses in marketing and advertising. He plans to simultaneously pursue a Ph.D. in history at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

Sheehan began his career in 1983 at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, New York, later purchased by Saatchi & Saatchi in 1986. In 1990, he moved to Saatchi & Saatchi's Hong Kong office and was named CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Japan three years later. In 1996, Sheehan became the head of Saatchi & Saatchi in Australia and joined Team One as its CEO in 1999. Sheehan will continue to consult for Saatchi & Saatchi as coordinator of its Toyota Worldwide Executive Board.

About Team One

Team One is a full-service agency, including comprehensive brand consultancy, strategic planning, media planning and buying, relationship (direct) marketing, event marketing/promotions, interactive/digital services, web development, public relations, design and collateral. Headquartered in El Segundo (Los Angeles), California, and a division of Saatchi & Saatchi, the agency has regional offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. Current and past clients include Lexus, the Lexus Dealer Association, The Ritz-Carlton, Bombardier Flexjet, Proctor & Gamble (Millstone Coffee), American Express, Whole Foods, Geffen Records, Los Angeles Times.com, British Telecom/Infonet Services Corporation, Big Dog Motorcycles, L.A. Animal Shelters, El Segundo Police Department, National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Partnership for a Drug Free America, Teen Line, Venice Art Walk, and American Film Institute's Digital Content Lab.